New Mount Hope supervisor takes aim at neglected sites

MOUNT HOPE — Less than two weeks into his new term as supervisor, Chad Volpe has already begun renovations to the 1970s-era Town Hall that he said has not seen new paint or carpeting in some 25 years.

Gittel Evangelist

MOUNT HOPE — Less than two weeks into his new term as supervisor, Chad Volpe has already begun renovations to the 1970s-era Town Hall that he said has not seen new paint or carpeting in some 25 years.

Volpe and his deputy supervisor, Councilman Dominick Cambareri — also new to townwide office — provided an overview and tour on Sunday of some of the town's buildings, including the dilapidated former Otisville Elementary School. They outlined a pattern of neglect that dates back at least as far as the 22-year tenure of the previous supervisor, Bill Novak Jr.

But at least one Town Board member, Councilwoman Janet Sutherland, disagrees with that assessment. She is entering her third year in office.

Sutherland said Novak's "management of the town was phenomenal." Furthermore, she accused Highway Superintendent Dean Hassenmayer, now in his fourth term, of deliberately withholding information from the board on the state of Town Hall.

At the new Town Board's reorganizational meeting Jan. 6, Hassenmayer gave a report detailing the building's leaky roof and damaged cinder block walls, and described how one bay of the adjoining highway garage had to be shored up with wooden planks in December.

Sutherland contends this was all news to her: "Dean Hassenmayer never said anything about the buildings" at any previous Town Board meeting, she said Sunday.

While Hassenmayer conceded he had made no official report to the Town Board prior to the Jan. 6 meeting, he said Novak was aware of the leaky roof for the duration of Hassenmayer's 16 years in the Highway Department.

"(Novak) has always had us highway guys go up on the roof and patch up the leaks with tar," he said. "I've asked and suggested numerous times in the past that we have a professional look at it. His response was always, 'Yeah, yeah, we'll get to it.'"

Moreover, Hassenmayer said, Novak "never wanted to put any money into preventive maintenance. He never spent money on any of the buildings."

Novak could not be reached for comment Sunday evening.

Hassenmayer said he was "relieved" after a contractor looked at the roof last week and determined it could be fixed "for $3,000-$4,000, and it would last for seven to 10 years."

At least two other contractors will provide estimates, Volpe said.

Asked about the state of the former elementary school, currently in contract to be sold, Hassenmayer said that was another sore spot with the previous Town Board.

A tour of the school on Sunday revealed water damage and mold, crumbling ceilings and signs of vandalism throughout the three-story building. In the gym, two garbage pails jerry-rigged with tarps and sump pumps clearly had failed to protect the badly buckling wood floor. The building has working electricity but no heat or running water.

Still, insisted Sutherland — who heads up the committee overseeing the 90-year-old building — "The old school is absolutely sellable." She said she was still holding out hope that, should the current sale to a Satmar Hasidic group be voted down in a permissive referendum, the school could be converted to an assisted-living facility.

In the meantime, Volpe continues to make renovations, discovering problems as they arise and adding them to an ever-increasing list of issues to address.

In his first days in office, Volpe had the supervisor's office gutted and painted; last weekend, a contractor — paid for by three town residents who did not wish to be named — went to work painting the main meeting room at Town Hall. All the paint was donated, too, with the exception of the primer needed to cover the old paneling.